Various techniques may be used to deploy and/or retrieve equipment, such as electric submersible pumps (ESP's) used in the oil and gas industries, with regard to subsurface wells and other like formations. In such applications, the equipment may be lowered into the well or retrieved via a system of cables and pulleys, for example. In some cases, the weight of the equipment with respect to the cables used, or the use of power and telemetry conductors along with equipment can limit the efficiency or success of such systems.
For example, in some cases, cables may be prone to failure due to insufficient strength. While some advances have been made in cable technology, high stress points can occur at some locations, including at the drum from which the cable is delivered and at sheaves that guide the cable down the hole. Cable failure can occur at the high stress points. For instance, during deployment and recovery, the greatest stress placed on cables can occur as the cable passes over a sheave under load.
Further, other types of failures can occur from fluid intrusion into the cables or from “z-kinking,” when there is too much slack present in electrical and telemetry conductors causing the conductors to be kinked as the equipment is deployed.